Sabbatine, Xotli's Chosen Saint
=Appearance= At first glance many would not believe this young woman could contain something so terrible as Xotli's essence within her. Sabbatine is short and slender and though her flesh is dark like a Stygian's one might conclude she is a half blood. She has soft and gentle features though her eyes look like orange embers on the verge of burning out. Her hair is a sooty red, cut short save for a pair of maiden braids that hung down to just above her petite chest. =Personality= Sabbatine may be a Herald of Xotli but she has interpreted Xotli's commandments to her differently than most of her kin. She believes that Xotli has enough killers running around and that he has chosen her to be his chosen saint. She spreads his message with eloquent speech and a smile, not the brute force of her blade. She is often run out of the small towns she visits and often must live in the wilds for weeks at a time, avoiding those who would kill her for the message she bears. Despite the appearance of a polite and innocent young woman, Sabbatine is filled with the hatred of her god, she can go days or even weeks without food or water and she believes that the only sustenance she truly needs is her hatred for the world she is forced to live in. She does not have many friends, preferring to be a loner, but those who have known her and have gotten closer to her will sense the abyssal depths of her hatred. Like many of Xotli's followers Sabbatine is unstable, perhaps even insane. She approaches every day as though it were the beginning of her life and often cannot remember the faces of her friends or enemies unless they have made a serious impact in her life. Many believe her to be dull or stupid when she introduces herself to them for the third or fourth time, but once the conversation begins she has no trouble picking up where they left off. Sabbatine believes she is Xotli's chosen saint and as such she does not think any harm can come of her unless Xotli wills it. She does not directly control when the demons within her will manifest and protect her, but they always seem to come at the right moment in order to prevent her death. After a battle when the demons have left her she is left with little or no memory of what happened and depending on her state of mind may collapse and weep for the fallen, or perhaps mutilate and cannibalize the bodies. She believes she is in constant and direct communication with Xotli himself, though who can say if the god truly speaks with his minion or she simply imagines it. She often seems distant and distracted, and frequently holds single sided conversations with herself about disturbing topics and what the future may hold. She is quick to smile and offer a kind word, she is generally slow to anger and often doesn't notice the anger building in those around her until weapons are drawn. She has spent time in confinement during her travels but because she does not breath fire or manifest a demon to protect her she is released and banished from the area, the people believing she was simply spouting insane babble. Perhaps the most unusual thing about Sabbatine is her belief in purity. Though she embodies the definition of defilement and destruction she believes she is a pure creature. Despite her devotion to Xotli, all her travels and all the wrongs she has committed she has never allowed a man to defile her body. She is totally dedicated to Xotli and believes that her purity makes her unique among his servants and will never desire another man more than she desires the approval of her god. =History= Though Sabbatine looks Stygian she is in fact Cimmerian. She grew up in a tiny village near the peaks of the Eiglophian Mountains. On her sixteenth birthday she began hearing voices within her head directing her to do things and though she suppressed them at first she eventually began doing as they asked and as a result was gifted with minor healing powers. She did not know where the power came from and her village feared she had been tainted by witchcraft and drove her out. She wandered the peaks for days, her Cimmerian heritage allowing her to survive where so many others would have fallen. She left the mountains and traveled into the Dead Lands where she was taken in by another village that was less concerned with her unusual abilities. She lived among them for years though she was never accepted as one of them. Her services were valuable to them however as their village grew they needed her healing ability less and less as medicines became more readily available. Soon she was forced out once more, accused of being a witch once again. At 18 she wandered the land once more. Sabbatine soon discovered that the walking dead had no interest in her flesh and for a time she lived among them studying them hoping to learn the source of her own power. A few months after that a band of undead hunters mistook her for a necromancer or cannibal and slew her though she offered no resistance. Her throat was slit even as she begged for mercy and tried to explain why she was there. They watched her bleed out and hung her body at the entrance of the forest she had been living within. The weapon that had been used to kill her had a cruel enchantment placed upon it. The soul of any being slain by it would be claimed by Xotli and would exist within his hell for eternity. At first no claim was laid upon her soul and instead she lingered near her body, forced to watch as crows devoured it from the outside, and insects ate her from within. Sabbatine could not understand why this had happened to her, nor did she know where her power had come from. She spent her time as a shade pondering these things until one day after what felt like an eternity, Xotli came to claim his prize. She was cast into hell and the pain was beyond anything she could have imagined but even has her body, mind, and spirit burned eternally she was relieved that she no longer was alone, no longer had to sit and ponder her fate. She focused completely on the agony and slowly began to worship it. Her flesh boiled away, she was skinned alive, slowly crushed flat, no matter what the torture was she felt euphoric glee and yearned for the next experience. After what felt like years the torture ended suddenly. She was in a void once again, alone and utterly unable to sense or feel anything. The sudden lack of pain or any feeling whatsoever caused an immediate breakdown of her will and she began screaming hatefully at the darkness. “Why do you take pleasure in your punishment?” a horrific voice bubbled from the darkness. “It reminds me of what I once had.” Sabbatine snarled. “What was taken from me!” “You wish to live again? Why?” he asked, placing a finger under Sabbatine's chin, forcing her to look up at his squid-like face. “I want to kill them. I want them all to burn as I have burned!” she snarled, peering into Xotli's inky black eyes. The god's face split into what Sabbatine imagined was a smile and a contract appeared before her. “Sign the contract and together, with you as my saint, we will make your world burn.” the god uttered to her in a mesmerizing tone. Sabbatine did not read the contract, she did not care what it said or what consequences lay before her. She bit off the tip of her tongue and when her mouth was full of blood she spat upon the contract. She saw it glow briefly and then she was somewhere else entirely, disoriented and naked, hanging from the post her body had been placed upon after she had bled out, but she was no longer injured. Her body was healed and she felt strength surge through her as she broke the bonds that kept her hanging on the post. She fell to the ground and slumped to her knees screaming at the sky as rain began to fall. She had no experience tracking but Xotli guided her and she found the camp of the men who had slain her. The men were dead before the battle even began as Sabbatine burned them alive with her new power. She dressed herself within their clothes and stole their weapons and equipment, keeping the dagger that had been used to kill her in a special place. She contemplated the path before her and felt that Xotli was guiding her to the village that had recently wronged her. Her hatred and fury made her a dangerous opponent but the village had an experienced militia and she was forced to retreat which only served to further enrage her. The militia chased her, hounded her, taunted her, and when her rage reached levels even she didn't know existed she felt her body change. Her consciousness was thrown into the back of her mind and though she remained vaguely aware of what was going on, she was not in control. Several hours passed and when she was back in control the small village was burning around her, she knew in her heart that no one had escaped. She fell to her knees and wept openly, cradling the corpse of a dead child in her lap. It was then she noticed her pale skin had darkened as though it had been in the sun for years. She dug shallow graves for the bodies she could find and two days later a trading caravan came through. She told them a story about bandits and begged the traders to take her with them and she was soon in old Tarantia. Once she was within the city she sought out some arcane materials and though they were expensive she had found much money within the village. She tattooed her body with a powerful ward to keep the power she had locked within her except for in the most dire circumstances. Xotli allowed her to do this as such wards would not keep him from doing what he wished with his minion. Once she had finished constructing the ward, she cleansed herself of the filth that had caked on her during her trip and purchased new clothing. It was a new day and she was gifted with a new life.